252 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



and concludes: "All is effected by changes un- 

 dergone in the nutrition of the plant, in its meth- 

 ods of absorption, and in its transpirations, in 

 the quantity of caloric, light, air, and humidity; 

 finally, in the superiority which certain of its 

 vital movements can take on over others." In his 

 transfer from the study of botany to zoology, 

 Lamarck's interests seem to have been wholly 

 weaned from the study of plants. He does not 

 show the least glimmering of the ideas of the 

 struggle for existence among the plants, and does 

 not by any means enlarge Buffon's ideas upon 

 this subject. 



In his speculations upon the origin of life, La- 

 marck at first seems to have rejected the doctrine 

 of abiogenesis, but later (1802) he placed at the 

 base of his scale of degradation progressive the 

 origin and continuous generation of the lowest 

 forms of life out of inorganic matter. 



He believed that by little masses of gelatinous 

 matter, brought together by attraction, a tissu 

 cellulaire was formed, containing gases and vital 

 movements; that these little forms of life were 

 the original inhabitants of the globe; moreover, 

 that spontaneous generation of these organisms 

 was still going on.^ 



In the waters of the ancient world, and at the pres- 

 ent time, very small masses of mucilaginous matter 



lOken's similar theory was not advanced until 1805. 



